The present tense (Präsens) in German is used in many different situations: stating general facts, talking about actions going on right now, and even talking about future plans. Luckily, it’s also not too difficult to form, just delete the infinitive ending and add the agreement endings!
“The present is a gift” as they say and this is true for the present tense as well. Have you already come across the sentence Ich heiße… meaning My name is... or Wie geht es dir? meaning How are you? Perfect! You already know a little bit about the present tense.
In this post, we’ll cover how to form the present tense in German, and then go through some of the situations you should describe using this tense. Ready to have a look? Let’s dive in!
How to form the present tense in German?
In German, the present tense of regular verbs is formed by removing the infinitive ending and adding present tense agreement endings. Let’s look at an example of how this works!
We start with the infinitive of a regular verb: spielen meaning to play
We delete the infinitive ending -en, we are left with the stem of the verb: spiel-
To this stem we add the agreement endings -e, -st, -t, -en, -t and -en. The ending you choose depends on the subject
| Subject Pronoun | Ending | spielen meaning to play |
|---|---|---|
ich Translation: I | -e | spiele |
du Translation: you | -st | spielst |
er, sie, es Translation: he, she, it | -t | spielt |
ich Translation: we | -en | spielen |
ihr Translation: you, pl. | -t | spielt |
sie Translation: they | -en | spielen |
A few tiny exceptions:
If the stem of the verb ends in d or t, add an e before the -st and -t endings. This is also necessary for some verbs whose stem ends in m or n.
baden meaning to bathe:
- ✅du badest ❌badst
- ✅er badet ❌badt
However, in verbs with vowel changes (see below), do not worry about an additional e:
raten meaning to guess:
- ✅du rätst ❌ratest
If the stem ends in s, ß, x or z, remove the s in the du-form.
pflanzen meaning to plant:
- ✅du pflanzt ❌pflanzst
If the infinitive form ends in -eln or -ern, remove the e in the first and third-person plural:
plündern meaning to plunder:
- ✅wir plündern ✅sie plündern ❌plünderen
In addition to those little exceptions, some verbs are irregular or have a vowel in the stem that changes before you add the ending. Let’s look closer at these cases!
What are the vowel changes in the German present tense?
When the first vowel of a German verb is e or a, that stem vowel often changes slightly in two forms of the present tense:
the du meaning you sg. form
the er, sie, es meaning he, she, it form
Verbs that undergo this sort of stem vowel change will still take the regular verb endings we saw above. Let’s look at some examples:
e becomes i:
sprechen meaning to speak Ich spreche DeutschI speak German
Sprichst du Deutsch?Do you speak German?
Er spricht Deutsch.He speaks German.
e becomes ie:
lesen meaning to read Wir lesen Zeitung.We are reading the newspaper.
Liest du Zeitung?Are you reading the newspaper?
Sie liest Zeitung.She is reading the newspaper.
a becomes ä:
halten meaning to hold Ich halte die Tasche.I am holding the bag.
Hältst du die Tasche?Are you holding the bag?
Er hält die Tasche.He is holding the bag.
Which verbs are irregular in the present tense in German?
A few German verbs are more irregular in the present tense. The most important two are sein meaning to be and haben meaning to have, which are used so often, you will memorize them in no time.
| Pronouns | sein meaning to be | haben meaning to have |
|---|---|---|
ich Translation: I | bin | habe |
du Translation: you | bist | hast |
er, sie, es Translation: he, she, it | ist | hat |
ich Translation: we | sind | haben |
ihr Translation: you, pl. | seid | habt |
sie Translation: they | sind | haben |
Some examples of sentences with these forms:
- Hi, ich bin Claudia. Hast du eine Minute für mich?Translation: Hi, I am Claudia. Do you have a minute for me?
- Das ist Tim. Er hat eine Katze.Translation: This is Tim. He has a cat.
The German modal verbs are also quite common and are somewhat irregular. For the forms of other irregular verbs, check out our list of irregular present tense verbs in German.
What are the word order rules for the German present tense?
The German present tense follows the standard German word order rules:
In simple sentence, the verb comes second:
subjectpresent tenseIch spiele mit meinem Bruder.Translation: I play with my brother.Form questions by bringing the verb to the front followed by the subject:
subjectpresent tenseSpielst du…?Translation: Do you play…?Form a negative sentence with nicht:
negationpresent tenseIch spiele nicht.Translation: I do not play.
When to use the present tense in German?
In German the present tense has a lot more uses than the English simple present. We use this tense to discuss:
general facts and habits
actions happening “right now”
actions that have been happening for some amount of time or since some time
planned or certain future events
the past (when being dramatic)
Let’s look at some examples of each of these uses!
General facts and habits
Like in English, we can use the present tense to state facts:
Also, the present tense comes in handy for describing habits or other actions which occur regularly, such as:
Even when you want to say that you never do something, the present is your tense:
Actions happening “right now”
In German, we use the present tense to talk about things that are happening “right now” (or during the moment of speech).
When translating this use of the German present tense into English, you’ll usually use the present progressive (“is verbing”), but in German we use the regular simple present tense.
For actions that have been happening “for” or “since” some time
In German, we use the present tense for actions or situations that have been happening for some amount of time or which have been happening since some past moment.
Planned or certain future events
In German, we use the present tense to talk about planned or certain future events, much like you might in English. The context will usually make it clear that you’re talking about the future and not the present.
Check out our post on expressing the future in German to learn more about how this compares to the other ways we can talk about future events!
To make the past sound more dramatic
Yes, you’ve read this correctly. Sometimes the German present tense is even used to tell a story which took place in the past! Usually, this happens in spoken language when people tell an anecdote or a funny thing from not too long ago.
Summary
Let’s take a quick look at what we’ve covered today:
When forming the German present tense, there are…
regular verbs → just add an ending to the stem.
stem-changing verbs → a stem vowel changes (e can become i or ie and a becomes ä), but we use the regular verb endings.
irregular verbs → must be memorized, as with sein meaning to be and haben meaning to have.
The present tense can be used for many different situations:
general facts and regularly occurring actions
actions happening right now
actions that have been happening for some time
future events that are certain
narrations of past events
Ready to practice? Check out our German present tense exercises! Or, if you’d rather study, open up our chart of irregular present tense verbs!
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